Princess and Witch
by Mystic aingeal
Summary: A reworking of the old fairytale 'Rapunzel' with a few more twists. This story gives more attention to the Witch and her motivations in the story.
1. Default Chapter

Hope you guys like my story J I would greatly appreciate it if you could review it. Criticism welcome

Prologue

            _Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess that lived in a castle of gold. She was not born a princess, but when her Prince first beheld her he exclaimed that such beauty did not belong to the common people and so bought away their treasure with words of love. He lifted her from the cinders at which she slept and made her his diamond. The jewel of the land. She was the most precious thing he had and he made sure that she was well taken care of in his golden castle; her every whim and desire fulfilled. And so life was beautiful to the princess, who now knew that there was such a thing as a happily ever after. Yet the princess never thought to ask what happens After That. She thought she was blessed by the Fates because her life had turned out to be a true fairytale and Story had plucked her out of nothingness and created her a princess. Ahhh… but once Story had released its hold on her mortal life in slipped What Happened After._

_            After, there was a war, and desire for blood and death and glory stirred in the heart of her prince. She begged her prince to stay for was not his Happily Ever After with her. But he did not listen for a blood-lust stronger than that for his princess' beauty called to him. War wrapped the prince in her black wings and flew off into the night, never to return. _

_            The Princess was alone. The dream of Love had made her life a fairytale, but with love gone it became a nightmare. This was Ever After…_

_            And so the Princess left her golden castle and went away to the end of the world. The Princess, betrayed by Story and a Dream, slowly turned into a Witch. But that is not the end of the story… There is an After That…_


	2. Chapter 1

Princess and Witch

            Sitting by the window of her stone tower, the Witch Queen looked down. The man sneaking through her garden did not even look up to the tower to see if he was being observed. He was fearful… for after all, who would not fear to be walking through the garden of a wicked witch. Yet a need stronger than fear was propelling him forward. The Witch Queen wondered at that. She did not try to stop him for she was curious that he should defy the stories she had woven around her for protection; she who knew the true strength of story. The man reached the rapunzel[1] and plucked some hastily. The Witch Queen was mildly interested at his behaviour and wondered that he should go to so much trouble for a vegetable. The Witch Queen looked into the darkness of her tower and frowned, wondering. 

            She watched the man slip into her garden. She had been waiting for him this time. She did not reveal her presence but once again allowing him to steal her rapunzel, she followed him as he left. As they entered the forest surrounding her home, the witch lost sight of the man as he merged with the darkness and shadows. Just before he disappeared into the darkness she noticed that a faint golden glimmer of story surrounded the man. So, she had not escaped it after all. Even here, at the edge of the world, its evil presence twisted and corrupted the lives of the people. Even here, where there were no princes or castles or beauty. _What are you up to_ she wondered.

            An old lady hobbled through the village, her black cloaked figure moving from house to house. The basket of apples that she was selling looked delicious although strangely, few people had actually bought any. Mayhap the old lady resembled a witch and so young ladies knowing all about witches selling apples stayed away. Though in truth, they should not have worried, for none of them could ever have challenged anyone in a beauty contest. Nobody would ever be jealous of their beauty. The Witch Queen wore a mocking twist of lips underneath her black cloak. Her apples were, of course, quite ordinary. Although not the most practical disguise, the thought of using Story against itself had been a hard one to resist. So she remained as the apple seller and continued her search.

            The woman devoured the salad. She desired more. She would force her husband to get her some more tonight. Oh, but she could not wait so long, she needed some more now! A knocking at the door interrupted her ravenous desires. The old woman selling apples was irritably told that her apples were not desired by the woman of the house and hurried away. The witch looked at the closed door, remembering it carefully. The smell of rapunzel had been on the pregnant woman's breath and faint golden tendrils of Story had wrapped her bulging belly. 

            That night she hid in the shadows of her garden once more to await the coming of the thief. He came and as before went straight to the rapunzel, shining silver in the moonlight. As he bent down to pick some, a shadow fell across him and the startled man turned around in fear. The Witch Queen stood there, a shadow against the moon. 

            "Thrice have you come to steal from me, thief," she said softly, yet there was power in her voice.

The man cowered with terror, for he had been found out by the Witch Queen. He imagined the horrid tortures that he would be punished with for though she had said nothing of punishment, he knew for certain that she would delight in it. For was she not the Queen of Witches.

            "Please Lady, let mercy overrule justice. I came to do this out of necessity. My wife is with child and had such a longing for rapunzel that she would die if she did not get some to eat," he begged.

            "Though I may be a witch, I cannot deny Justice. Your punishment shall be a choice. You can either choose never to touch rapunzel again and so let your wife die of longing. Or you can choose to have all the rapunzel you want from my very own garden and promise that you will give to me something of your own belonging when I ask for it."

            "I have nothing that I can give you, but I will give you whatever you desire when you name it," chose the man and the Witch Queen allowed him to take as much rapunzel as he wanted. The man went away thinking that she was not as wicked as stories would have him believe for surely nothing she could ask from him was worth the well-being of his wife. But he was but a mere pawn of a pauper in the movement of story so he did not have the knowledge to understand that the witch's demands were quite wicked indeed.

            The Witch Queen knew that she had involved herself in the story. The question was how involved she had made herself. She considered its main character to be the child the woman bore within her. Considering the situation, she decided that she had only been a minor player in this story because though Story has many powers, it cannot prevent the ordinary cravings of a pregnant woman. And the gardens in this village were not as diverse as hers, so it would be quite ordinary that if a person had cravings for a particular plant, they would be drawn to her garden. She did not consider it an aspect of the story. She hoped it was not, for now she had made an agreement with the man that could catapult her straight into a new story if she were not careful. She wondered again why she had made such an agreement with the man, for it was just the sort of thing you would expect in a fairytale. She had bound herself to a Story and wondering about this the Witch Queen waited and watched.

            A raven haired baby was born to the rapunzel-eating woman and the thief-man three months later. A few minutes after the baby was born, three old ladies knocked on the door. They were wise women come to give the baby their blessing.

            "Please enter my humble home and please make yourselves as comfortable as possible," said the man, "I would not ask you to wait long but my wife and child are still tired from their ordeal."

            "We understand, good man, and we ourselves have travelled far to bless this child so we will not mind a rest before we do so," they answered with a kind smile on their faces.

They pondered what they would bless the baby with as they rested and were soon presented to the mother and her child. 

            The first wise-woman was planning to bless the child with beauty but when she looked at the sleeping babe she saw a clear full-mooned night, the velvety darkness of the heavens and the gentle glow of the moon and stars. She changed her mind about her blessing, for the child would grow to be beautiful without her help. Instead she decided to bless the child with grace.

            "I do bless thee childe with…" she began before she was interrupted by a loud and insistent knocking at the door. 

The man opened the door to try and get rid of the interruption quickly but halted with an indrawn breath at the sight of the Witch Queen standing at the door. He had forgotten her. As he let her in, fear had so frozen his mind that it had not yet occurred to him why she should appear at this moment to claim her promise. 

            "We have a bargain to fulfil, thief," the Witch Queen said softly.

            "I have nothing to offer you," he answered her.

            "Do you suppose, _thief, that you should be the one to tell me whether or not you have something I want." _

            "Excuse me madam," interrupted the first wise-woman in an irritated voice, "but you have interrupted a very important ceremony. We would be glad if your speech with the man of this house might wait until we are finished."

            "There will be no blessing of this child, "she answered and turning to address the man she said, "Your child is now mine. The child is the belonging I will have of you."

The man begged her to re-consider. 

            "Please do not take the child from us. Is there anyway that we can get her back?"

            "There is nothing you can do. You must keep your bargain. You are saddened because you do not yet understand what life will bring her. You fear to give her to a witch for you fear what will become of her but you will let her turn into a witch if you keep her," answered the Witch Queen, walking out of the door with the child in her arms.

            They went far away from the village and deeper and closer to The End of the World than many mortals had gone before. There they found a tower and away from the presence of Man it became their home. There they became Mother and Daughter. Witch and Princess.

  


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[1] Sometimes referred to as 'rampion' this is a vegetable similar to lettuce


	3. Chapter 2

Sitting in her stone tower the witch queen looked down. The pretty princess played among the thorns. The witch queen's eyes glittered like sharp chips of coal. New coal, baby coal that had not yet turned to diamond. Innocent little princess playing among her rose thorns saw not the coal in the witch's eyes. Saw not her future in the depths of that sharp face, but the witch queen did. And so she watched upon her princess with those glittering pieces of coal. 

            The swirling black dress swished as the Moriana entered the room. The child held up her bleeding thumb.

            "The thorn bit me, mother," said Shian. 

            "I told you not to play among the thorns, Shian," answered the Witch Queen.

            "But the flowers are so pretty. I didn't know that pretty things could hurt you."

            "Pretty things hurt you worse than anything, for they fill you will such longing and desire, that nothing, not even death will stop you from reaching them."

            "It just bit me. I'm not dead, " said Shian, not understanding Moriana's words.

            "There are pretty things all around you, Shian, your world is full of them, so why do you play with flowers with thorns? It is easy to see why you might think that roses are beautiful but beauty is everywhere if you know how to look," smiled Moriana as she fixed up the bleeding thumb.

            "In the stories you have told me, the princesses always play with roses. Sometimes they wear roses in their hair, or have rose petal baths."

            "And remember what happens in those stories. Those stories are not real," lied the Witch Queen, "but look at the way the light plays with the water in the lake or how each tree is a different shade of green and a different shape and you will see true beauty. Stories give you false promises and they blind you to the truth within the world," sighed Moriana. "Where will you play tomorrow Shian?"

            "I don't know. I hope it snows. Then I will be able to play in the snow. It's so pretty. Why don't you ever play in the snow, mother?"

            "It's cold..." answered the Witch Queen, her thoughts drifting away, to a place of once upon a time.

                _Once upon a time a beautiful little girl was born to ordinary peasants in a village. This little girl was taken away from them by a wicked witch as punishment for a petty crime committed by the child's father. The witch took her away to the ends of the world. There the beautiful little girl grew into a beautiful young woman. The witch, seeing the beauty of the growing girl grew jealous and locked her in a tower where nobody could reach her._

            Shian felt the water flow over her body. Like cold silk it ran its fingers along her body, through her hair. She pretended that she was a princess, waiting for her love to arrive. But when she opened her eyes she only saw the woodlands of her childhood, her life. These woods had once enthralled her with their magic, their netherworld quality which all children seek for somewhere. Now they only bored her. Sometimes she wondered if the stories her mother told her about her past were real. After all she could not imagine her mother being whisked off by some dashing prince, but sometimes her face seemed to hold a faded kind of beauty. Like she had suddenly grown old. And that prince, her father, she supposed, where was he now? Why had he left and betrayed them? Her mother taught her that it was Story that betrayed them. But still so many holes. But if she didn't believe in that, then what did she believe in? If she wasn't who Moriana told her she was, then who was she? 

            Prince Enthralling held the white rabbit in his gaze. Drawing his arm back as far as he could, he loosed the arrow. The rabbit ran, startled, as the arrow hit the ground to its right. The Prince scowled at his miss and his thoughts were dark as he tugged the arrow from the grass. The King had sent Prince Enthralling to the End of the World so he could learn to Be A Man and prove himself. For how could he one day become king and care for a whole land if he could not care for himself in the wilderness. 

            Hearing a noise in the trees behind him the Prince hid, hoping to catch whatever animal it was by surprise. However it was the animal that surprised him. For it was not animal, but a young woman walking through the distant trees. She had not seen him, for not expecting him to be there, it did not occur to her to look around at the trees she had grown up with more carefully. She came close enough for him to see her face and he fought to make no sound for she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. She was not truly as beautiful as he thought but he saw her through the eyes of a Prince brought up on stories, knowing that a mysterious woman walking through the forest must surely be some beautiful lost Princess in need of rescuing. He wondered where she had come from and what she was doing here in this horrible land. And lost in dreaming of her beauty and her image he lost sight of her and could not find her again when he searched. Suddenly, his exile in this forbidden land was made much more interesting than expected. That night he dreamed of the beautiful princess that would be his.


	4. Chapter 3

"…Diamanthe lay asleep that night and dreamed of a prince that would take her away from her horrible life and keep her safe and happy and loved. She hated her life but knew that  there was always hope for if she was both beautiful and good then perhaps some prince would come to rescue her and make her his. She dreamed of glass slippers and poisoned apples and sleeping spells…" the Witch Queen spun into the air. She pulled the beautiful girl into the story with a talent that she had expressed on other occasions also. She was determined that this child would not be ignorant of the evils of story. 

            "…'You must come with me, I love you,' said the Prince. 

Diamanthe looked into his eyes and saw the truth of his words. She saw her reflection in his eyes, a reflection of the beauty that he loved. She sensed his fear of her beauty and his need to cage control it but she misinterpreted this as fear for her safety and a desire to care for her. How could she deny him his desire when he was her rescuer. Her Prince Charming. 

'Of course I will go with you,' she answered. 'I will go with you to the ends of the earth. You are my love forever.'

 'Forever' echoed the prince, sealing her love and her beauty and her trust and her happiness into the magical diamond.

She remains there still, sealed tight by the binds of a love that could not bear to see her beauty die. Sealed tight by the binds of a fear that could not bear to see her beauty uncaged. Forever…" 

            That night Shian dreamed that she was trapped inside a diamond and couldn't breathe. She woke up gasping for breath and it took her long to fall asleep again that night. Moriana was also awake that night. . She imagined what it could have been that had woken Shian. She knew that the story had frightened her. But better to be frightened now by a dream rather than fall for the false promises of story later. That was much worse, for dreams will fade and can be changed but life can not be re-lived. Moriana looked in at the sleeping child. _But__ she is no longer a child_ she thought. She could see it in her eyes, in her restlessness. She thought back to herself at Shian's age. She saw her ignorance mirrored in Shian, her child, though not from her womb. And all this time she had run away from the influence of the castle, from the land of princes and fairytales, from the land of death and war and love. From what she thought was Story but in many ways was a reality. She had hoped that if one could escape the claws of story then more would follow. And yet here was her child. Ignorant of all that she had been shielded from, doomed to repeat the witch's mistakes. Doomed to the blissful pain of love that her beauty guaranteed. The Witch Queen knew the darkness that she was. She could see herself as the walls of this tower must see her, as an old witch. The questions, the 'whys' slowly driving her mad. Bitterness at her fate slowly eating away at her soul. Yes, sometimes she knew herself and she could never, never let her child become that. _Never_ she whispered to the thick walls of the tower. Never.

            She did not know if the water girl was beautiful. Her mother had taken away all the mirrors in the tower on Shian's twelfth birthday. She allowed no more mirrors for she disproved of beauty since it always attracted Story, so Shian looked at her reflection in the water. However Shian did not understand how a mirror made one beautiful, for surely a mirror was only a reflection of reality. She did not understand that beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder and a plain girl could see herself as beautiful or a beautiful girl could see only faults with her perfection. She pondered the shape of her lips, her eyes, in her reflection for a while longer oblivious to the protection the Witch Queen had placed on her by not allowing her to know of her beauty. For nobody ever wants to know of the plain peasant but only of the mysterious beauty. Moriana was trying to give Shian a gift that had been taken from her own life. She was trying to give her a life of choice… where she need not ride of into the sunset with her Prince Charming merely because she was beautiful and thus it was her fate. 

            Prince Enthralling watched her gazing into the lake. He very much desired to speak with her and hear her voice, which must surely be soft and velvety to match her beauty. As her dark silky hair fell across her face, he imagined how that hair would feel at his fingertips and shivers went up his spine. He feared that he would never see her again, for though she seemed young, the curves of early womanhood that she held seemed promising. She would be a beauty beyond the realm of all others. If he came back to his kingdom with her as his betrothed, his father could do naught but see what a man he had become. For if a man could win such a beauty as she, he would surely be able to win and control the hearts of the people. He would prove that he could be a King.

            Treating her as he would a timid deer, he stepped slowly and silently from his hiding spot. She had not noticed him yet and so he started to move closer to her. She looked up, startled and suddenly aware of him as his boots rustled the leaves on the ground.

            "Please do not go, beautiful maiden, I shalt not harm thee," he called softly, speaking the language of story.

Shian jumped away as he came closer, shocked at seeing another person. Confused she prepared to run away to her tower.

            "I am Prince Enthralling, and sorrowful am I if I have frightened thee, but thy beauty touched my heart and I knew that I would have no peace till I had spoken to thee. I Prithee, Darkhair, wouldst thou not give me thy name so that I may at least know who it is I sorrow for when you disappear from mine life."

Shian recognised his speech as that of the fairytales her mothers had told her. _And__ he said he was a Prince! A real Prince! And he called me beautiful! Am I dreaming?_

            "My name is Shian."

            "Shian…" repeated the Prince with a soft look in his eyes and a small smile on his face, "it is a beautiful name," he answered slowly coming closer. 

Shian remained transfixed by the Prince as he got even closer to her. Her eyes widened in surprise as he gently grasped her hand and she was too shocked to think to pull away as he bent to kiss her hand.

            "I am honoured to have met thee, beautiful lady of the lake," said Prince Enthralling

            "Where did you come from?" asked Shian regaining control of herself as he let go of her hand.

            "I come from a kingdom of everlasting happiness at the centre of the World. My father is King of the land and he sent me here, to the edge of the world, on a quest of survival. It was to prove to him that I am capable of being his heir, for it is not enough to be born a Son of the King. I must also prove my bravery and courage," he answered, reverting to common speech.

            "May I ask you what so lovely a lady as yourself is doing here at the End of the World," he asked her.

            "I did not know that it was called that. I do not think the name suits it for it is a forbidding name and this place is neither the end of anything nor is it forbidding," she answered.

Prince Enthralling frowned slightly at her avoidance of his question and the questioning of his naming of the place before he remembered that he was meant to be charming so that he might win her.

            "I must go," said Shian, remembering Diamanthe's fate.

            "Fare thee well," answered the prince, resisting the compulsion to chase after her and grab her by force. He knew he would see her again and then he would woo her into his arms. She would give herself to him freely.

            Shian waited until she was out of sight of the prince and then ran home for the tower, trying to make her track difficult to follow. She did not want him to follow her home for she did not think her mother would look kindly upon the interruption. The Witch Queen had gotten quieter of late and her tongue had sharpened in reprimand against the girl. Shian felt her unhappiness and feared for both herself and her mother. She remembered when her mother had spoken to her in a softer voice and when she had smiled and the warmth had reached her eyes. There had always been a sadness in her mother, but since her twelfth year this sadness had turned more inwards and made Moriana more bitter than sad. Her stories had become even more portentous, warning Shian of the evils of story. Shian feared the prince, for the Princes in her mother's stories were always trying to trap the beautiful in their webs of lies and deceit. They feared the beauty of a woman and so tried to tame and cage it. The prince had called her beautiful, so Shian knew that she must be careful of him, lest he try to steal her away with words of love. But though she knew all these things, she felt a strange thrill of joy in the thought that she might see him again. She wanted to tell her mother about him and ask her what she should do but she knew that in her present state, her mother would only unleash her hate and destroy the prince before she found out the truth about him.

            "Where have you been today, Shian?" asked Moriana

            "Down by the lake," answered Shian trying to keep her voice calm.

            "Do not stray so far from the tower, Shian. If you are away from me, it will capture you and destroy you."

            "I am safe, mother," answered Shian, trying to divert her mother before she started going mad again. 

            "You will never be safe, Shian. It will always hunt you, lying to you. I wondered why it does that. For Story seems such a joyous thing, but it is not. It feeds on unhappiness… Happily Ever After is a lie, Shian. It will destroy you. Do not go so far from the tower, Shian. It will find you. Perhaps it already knows you are here!" exclaimed Moriana, a gleam of madness in her eyes.

            "I am safe, mother. You have taught me well."

Moriana looked at Shian, the gleam of madness replaced by cold purpose. 

            "Be careful, Shian," she said, walking away into the gloom.


	5. Chapter 4

_As every day passed, the girl grew more and more beautiful. Part of her beauty lay in her long raven hair. The tower she was held captive in had no doors for the witch had sealed them all off. The witch did not want anybody to discover the beautiful child. She, who had been overlooked by fortune because she was not beautiful enough, tried to doom the girl to her own fate. To let her grow old and ugly in a tower at the end of the world. Unloved. _

_            Although she was insanely jealous, the witch visited the girl every day. She would call out:_

_            "Ugly Child, let down your hair_

_            So I may climb that raven stair"_

_At this summons, the girl would throw out her hair and the witch would use it to climb up to her. Life continued thus for the Beauty and the Witch until one day a Prince came riding through the lands surrounding the tower. He was drawn to the tower by the singing of a sweet voice, which was the beautiful girl, now a young woman, singing of her sorrow. The Prince longed to soothe the owner of that voice for her song tugged at his heart. Though he had not seen her he fell in love with the owner of that voice and desired to rescue her from her tower. But upon searching for an entry into the tower, he found none and so went back to his palace heavy of heart, but planning to return until he had discovered the secrets the tower held within._

            Shian's room seemed to glow with a gentle golden light. The rising sun spread its warmth to Shian's bed, tendrils of golden light wrapping her in their embrace. They stroked her hair, making it shimmer like black silk. The light caressed her skin, giving it a clear glow. A tendril of light seeped into her mother's room on the other side of the tower in a crack between the heavy curtains. It caressed the neck that was once young and elegant. Moriana dreamed that she was trapped in a diamond and couldn't breathe. She woke with a strangled cry, her hands flying to her neck, her fearful eyes looking around the dark room. 

             The girl looked up as the Witch Queen entered the room, catching the suspicious glance she threw her way. Shian looked away from the mistrustful glare of her mother and continued to prepare breakfast. They sat to eat, unspeaking, her mother at the gloomy edge of the table, Shian at the sunny side. It almost seemed that they represented opposing forces, one of darkness and the other of light but it was not so. It was the golden light that bathed Shian that the Witch Queen was wary of and not Shian herself. For was not Shian her child; the little girl that she wanted oh so much to protect from the pains the world would try to inflict on her. She realised that she had not spoken much to Shian of late for she had been so preoccupied trying to protect her. There was danger in so many things. The Witch Queen's face softened slightly as she looked at her child.

            "I dreamed I was trapped in a diamond," she said.

Shian looked up almost startled at the voice of her mother.

            "I dreamed the same dream some nights ago," replied Shian, "It was probably because of the story of Diamanthe and the fate her foolishness cost her."

Moriana made an attempt at a smile, realising that Shian had indeed learned from the story. Shian was encouraged by this small change in her mother that she dared ask a dangerous question.

            "Do all Prince's try to trap the beauty of their Princess'?"

The Witch Queen was about to answer that they do but hesitated.

            "No, not in the same way Prince Charming did to Diamanthe. A cunning Prince need not trap a woman's beauty in a diamond. A cunning Prince will make a Princess fall in true love with him. Love makes everything beautiful, Shian, and a Princess in love with a Prince will give him everything that she is. She will give away her heart and her soul to him of her own free will. And then the Prince will leave her for the call of war and glory or for the beauty of another and her heart and soul will go with him because she loves him. Once those are gone, beauty also leaves for there can be no beauty without soul. And although he has not sealed her up in a diamond, the Prince has still stolen everything from the Princess. Because she loved him, she lost everything she was."

Shian had been thinking about the Prince she had met yesterday and a coldness seeped into her at her mother's words. She did not want to believe her mother. _That mad witch doesn't know what she is talking about, she thought. Shian left the table and went out determined to find out the truth of the Prince and prove that her mother lied._

"She lost her heart and soul and became a witch…" Moriana whispered to the departing girl.

            Prince Enthralling wondered how much longer he would have to wait for the girl as he ate his breakfast. He did not have much for he had not been able to go back to the village he passed on his way to get new supplies lest he miss the girl while he was gone. He had charmed the poor villagers into giving him food for the journey for  he did not mean to dirty his hands with eating what he hunted. He hunted for sport and not for food. His father had sent him here to survive but he had not specified the details of that survival. His father wanted a true man to be his heir. A man who hunted and killed, was brave and knew how to survive. Well, Prince Enthralling was better than that because not only would he use his princely charm to survive in this wilderness, but he would win himself a beautiful woman as well. He would be heir to a new age. 

            Lost in thought he did not notice Shian regarding him. She thought he did not look like he would want to trap a woman. His mouth curved into a smile and Shian did not see how one who could smile at life could be so bad. She wondered what it was that made him joyful. 

            "What are you thinking about, Prince Enthralling?" Asked Shian quite forwardly.

The Prince was somewhat shocked at her sudden appearance and fished in his mind for a suitable answer. 

            "I was wondering if you would grace me with your presence today, my lady. You ran off so quickly yesterday, I feared you were unhappy with my company."

            "Oh, no. I was very pleased with your company, my prince. Please do not think otherwise. I merely had something else to attend to," rushed Shian, trying to reassure him.

The Prince smiled at her reply.

            She looked out at the forest before her, the leaves glittering like emeralds as the sun shone on them. But she saw only darkness. So it had been when her prince had left too. Love had left her blind. But then she started to change. Bitterness and anger had found their way into her heart and she looked upon the world from the new perspective of a witch. It was a different view. Harder, colder, greyer… but it was a view at least. Slowly time wore down the edges of that view for at the Edge of the World she was able to slowly forget the past and with it some of the bitterness and anger. She could never be a princess again, but she was not so bad a witch. But now, once more, the darkness arrived. And bitterness and anger once more seeped into her heart. And fear too… Fear that she would lose the child to story. As the golden threads of light wrapped themselves around the tower and the emerald forest and those within, the Witch Queen saw only darkness. 

            The girl-woman laughed at the story the Prince told her. He smiled at her joy. Together, they walked amongst her forest. The prince had been named wisely for truly he enthralled the girl with his soft words. She had come expecting him to try to woo her with words of beauty and love, waiting for him to prove his falsehood. But he had not mentioned love, and so her guard against his charms slowly dropped. As they went deeper into the golden hued forest, she watched the world around her less and the prince more. Her eyes were blinded by golden rays.

            As the wind gently blew, the trees in the forest whispered secrets to each other. She longer to know what those secrets might be. Did they conspire against her to bring story here. Did they even now pass on the message to their brethren from the lands of fairytales about the beauty that lived in the castle. Was it a wind that brushed against the leaves making them speak so or the golden tendrils of story? She longed to know. Angered, that they would not tell her. For was she not Queen of this horrid place beyond all humanity, and being such should they not serve her. She would not be betrayed again! _Never she whispered to the dark walls of the tower. Never betrayed again._

            Noticing the flare of gold that the setting sun cast onto the lake, Shian realised that she had spent the whole day with the Prince. Her mother would be worried. And angered too when she found out who she had spent the day with. Shian had decided to tell her mother of the Prince. He was not the evil creature presented in so many stories. She felt that he had spoken truly to her today and she trusted her heart to know if he was false. He was good and kind and brave. All the things that Princes in stories pretend to be except that with him it was true. 

            "It is late, I must be home before dark," said Shian.

            "I understand, Shian. These woods may not be such a safe place for a sweet maiden at night. And you are expected home surely," replied the prince.

            "Yes," answered Shian, hesitating a moment before she continued, "I live with my mother in a tower at the edge of the forest. It is very difficult to find, if you do not know where to look. You can find it by going west from the willow tree by this lake."

The Prince tried to keep his face calm as excitement coursed through him at the knowledge of where she stayed. For this knowledge would surely make it easier for him to enthral her since it allowed him access to her whenever he desired it. Soon her beautiful lips, her dark silken hair, her smooth, fair skin would be his.

            "Though I know you must go, I would rather you stay a while longer for today has been the most joyous of days. Will you come again tomorrow?" Asked the Prince, letting a hint of longing enter his voice. 

Shian felt her heart pounding as he reached down for her hands. His touch was gentle.

            "Yes. I mean, I would like to but I may not be allowed. My mother… she does not like Princes. I plan to tell her about us… I mean, you, tonight and I can not know of her reaction. She may be upset and try to stop me from seeing you," answered Shian.

            "Then I will come to you," answered the prince, "Farewell Shian," he whispered kissing her hand in parting. 

Shian felt a shiver within her at his kiss for his eyes had been on hers and they showed his desire.

            "Farewell," she whispered and turned away as the golden tendril of story bound her heart to his.


	6. Chapter 5

_One day, as he was nearing to the tower, the Prince was halted by the realisation that there was someone else near his princess' tower. It was the old witch, come to visit her captive and laugh at her fate. The Prince stopped before he was within sight and hid. Suddenly he heard the witch call:_

_            "Ugly Child, let down your hair,_

_            So I may climb that raven stair."_

_As she finished her chant, a ream of hair came tumbling from the tower. The Prince watched as the witch climbed up and rejoiced that he had finally found the mysterious stair. He waited with princely patience for the witch to finish her tormenting of the girl. Once she had left he went to the tower and called:_

_            "Ugly Child, let down your hair,_

_            So I may climb that raven stair."_

_The shadowy  silk cascaded down the walls. As he reached up to her hair, he felt the softness of it under his fingers and his heart beat faster as he thought of She that the hair belonged to. _

_            The princess was frightened when she first saw him for she had never seen a man before, but she was even more beautiful than he imagined and he rid her of her fear with kindness and gentleness. He told her that he loved her and asked her if she would be his wife. The princess decided that she would since she liked the prince much more than the witch. She was not so sure what being his wife meant but he told her that he would find a way to get her away from the tower and then that they would live happily ever after and this pleased her very much. Then the Prince realised that he had spent many hours with his Princess and he should go if he did not want to get caught by the wicked witch. He kissed her sweet rose lips in farewell and climbed down the charcoal velvet to where his horse waited below. _

_The Princess watches her Prince ride away into the sunset, still feeling the pressure of his lips against hers. _

            The flickering darkness of the tower seemed like a nightmare after the sunlit day she had spent with Prince Enthralling. _This is not life_ thought Shian. Indeed it seemed so for how could a night of shadows and flickering light and darkness compare to a day bright with _Him. Unknowingly, her mother spread the darkness of her heart within the tower making it an unwelcome place to be. Shian pressed her hand to the wall as if to reassure her of its reality. She saw the stone of these walls as both safety and  confinement. In trying to protect Shian, the Witch Queen had built her a cage which did not permit her to fly. Yet Shian yearned to fly. She wondered why the same yearning did not fill her mother for it seemed like such a natural desire and for the first time wondered if her father had stolen it from her mother. For it seemed that he had certainly stolen much of her heart and soul. Looking at her mother standing by the window and gazing out into the depths of darkness she imagined the cage that her father had wrought for the confinement of her soul. A cold silver filigree with garnet roses. And like the roses she had played with as a child, these also had thorns. So the bird of her soul could press itself against the bars of its cage as much as it desired and all it would get for its efforts was the spilling of its blood._

            As much as she loved her mother and feared for her, she would not give herself freely to the cage that awaited her with the Witch Queen. 

            "Mother… mother, what to you see?" asked Shian attempting to gain the courage to tell her mother about the Prince.

Her mother turned at the sound of her voice and looked surprised to see her standing there. She had been thinking of her young girl and yet now looking upon her she saw the face of one who was almost a woman. It filled her with fear and foreboding. 

            "There is nothing but darkness…" she answered.

The pessimistic gloom of her mother caused a fire to burn in her belly.

            "No," she answered causing the Witch Queen to pause in the act of walking away. Her mother remained completely still.

            "All is not darkness. I know you speak of more than the fact that it is night. You think life is void of light, but you are wrong. There is much to be gained from life but you are too bitter to see. What about love? Is love not light…"

The Witch Queen froze Shian's lips with the venom in her eyes.

            "You speak to me of … love…" she hissed, "What do you know of love! You are a fool! Have you learnt nothing. Love. Is. Darkness. It pretends to be light and beautiful but it causes wounds that rip and tear your soul to pieces. Of all the darkness in the world, it is _love that is the most sadistic. How can you stand there and tell _me_ that love is light. Look at what love has caused. Look at the consequences of __Love."_

Shian had involuntarily stepped back against the stone at the acid in her mother's voice. She looked with fear upon the golden fires of madness that burned in her mother's eyes. The urge to run from the witch the darkness had caused to surface was overpowering. But Shian fought it. If she ran, the madness would take over her mother and then it would come looking for her. She could run, but even if she went away with the Prince to his palace, it would find her. Did it not find her mother and seep through her love for her Prince to destroy her. The sickly golden glints in Moriana's eyes would come for her too.

            "You are wrong. Sorrow and Death have made your eyes blind. My eyes are not so deceived," said Shian, stepping forward and away from the wall. Stepping away from safety. 

The bottom of her black dress swept up faint, almost unnoticeable golden dust from the floor as the Witch Queen neared Shian.

            _The Princess was startled from her dreaming by the sound of a harsh voice calling for her to let down her hair. She threw her precious hair out of the window and the Witch climbed up. She noticed that the witch took much longer to climb to the top and was much heavier than her Prince._

            Her long, pale fingers caressed Shian's cheeks in an almost loving way. Shian eyes widened at the sudden pain of Moriana's grip but she did not cry out as her claws cut into her cheek and jaw.

            "How you repay me, girl," whispered the Witch, "I plucked you from the weaving of a story that would destroy you and you repay me by calling me deceived. Think you that the world is bright and beautiful. Think you we live in a dream of happiness. There is nothing but darkness in the world. There is emptiness and Story. Both are dark but Story is worse for it pretends it is light. And so I have tried to hide you from story. I could not offer you anything, but I could let you know the true nature of the world you live in. Think you that I am deceived. Look at your life, girl. It is empty and dark. Yet still, you are no Princess and there is dark hope in that for if one beauty can escape the grip of Story then who knows what may come after. Yet I fear I have failed for the world grows darker."

Moriana let her hand fall from Shian's face. She looked into her child's eyes, searching for darkness, for betrayal. For Story. She searched but did not see the golden glow pushing Shian to the ending it desired. 

            "My life is not empty and dark, Mother. Love lights my life," she declared boldly.

            _When the Witch alighted, the Princess frowned at her and asked her why she was so much slower and heavier than the Prince. _"Oh! You wicked child," cried the Witch. "What is this I hear? I thought I had hidden you safely from the whole world, and in spite of it you have managed to deceive me."__

            "Love? The Love of a Prince? You betray me. You betray yourself. But there is still a chance… Your beauty calls it but perhaps there is still a chance…"

Before Shian could figure out what the Witch Queen meant, Moriana had grabbed hold of her hair and was dragging her to the kitchen. 

Shian shouted and tried to loosen the Witch's grasp on her hair but it was as if some magical force had given her a sudden strength and she could not make her let go. She watched through a stream of dark silk as her mother brought a knife out. Shian froze.

            "Mama… please what are you doing! Mama, please… please put the knife away. Oh please!" she sobbed.

_…In her wrath she seized the Princess' beautiful hair, wound it round and round her left hand, and then grasping a pair of scissors in her right_…

            In her madness, the Witch Queen slashed the knife at the silky darkness in her hands.

_…snip snap, off it came, and the beautiful plaits lay on the ground._

            "If you are not beautiful, then he will not try to cage you and steal away your soul," muttered the Witch as the strands of beauty fell to the floor around Shian.

            "You betrayed me, but I will still save you. I will stop you from turning into a witch. He cannot have you if he cannot find you. It shall not destroy you with its golden lies," said the witch to the sobbing girl as she pulled her to the tower dungeon. 

            …_And she was so unmerciful that she took the Princess into a wilderness…___

The girl cried at the pain of the Witch's hold on her arm, at the loss of her beautiful hair, at the madness of her mother. Blinded by tears and golden light she did not try to fight the witch as she locked her in the dungeon.

            "Mother! Think of what you do! I'm your daughter. Why are you doing this to me? Can you not let me be happy?"

But the Witch was deaf to her pleas. Surrounded by the thorny tendrils of golden light that ripped her to shreds she lived only in darkness.


	7. Chapter 6

Prince Enthralling dreamed of the beauty that would be his as she begged with her mother in the stone tower. He dreamed of black silk against his fingertips and red lips. She dreamed of black nightingales dying in their golden cages. He woke to a golden morning and waited for his sweet voiced nightingale to come to him. She did not come. _If she will not come to me then I will bring her to me he thought._

            _"Ugly Child, let down your hair_

_            So I may climb that raven stair."_

_Called the Prince to his Princess.__ He smiled in anticipation as the dark tresses once more fell down the walls of the tower. Grasping them, he climbed nimbly to the top._

            "Be gone from here, _Prince," she hissed, seeping her venom into the words. Prince Enthralling had walked into the Tower on the wings of darkness to claim his True Love but met with The Witch Queen instead._

He looked at her and saw a mad witch. Powerless to his youth and strength and beauty. 

            _"Ah, ah!_ You thought to find your lady love, but the pretty bird has flown and its song is dumb; the cat caught it, and will scratch out your eyes too. The Princess is lost to you for ever -- you will never see her more," cried the wicked witch as the Prince alighted to the top of the Tower.__

            "There is nothing for you here. Your beauty is gone. Did you think that I would so easily let you steal her soul and tear it to shreds? I will _not_ let you steal her Song and leave her as a broken, bitter, witch," continued the Witch Queen

The Prince felt himself falter at the strength of her words. Her appearance was deceptive. She was much stronger than she looked, her love for the girl giving her a power that was perhaps greater than his. But that power and courage was tinged with the darkness of her own past and life. Story saw the two sides flame against each other. The Prince would lose this battle for he had not the passion and strength of heart to win. He would not give his whole self to the battle as the Witch Queen would. For she fought for the love of a child that was real and he fought for an imagined love of fragile crystal.

            Just as the Prince felt himself faltering before the power of the Witch, a golden warmth hit him in the chest. It spread through his body, waking his muscles and nerves. It woke his blood-lust, his anger, his hate, his passion. Story gave the Prince the power of a Hero. 

Yet still he was not strong enough. Even after story had given him all it could, they were merely equal. So strong was her love for her child that she would stand alone against a Golden PrinceHero. But his name was, after all, Prince Enthralling. And his words could both enchant and destroy.

            "She betrayed you," he taunted, "you fight to save her but she betrayed you. Do you know why I am here, _witch_? I am here, because she asked me to be here. She has already given herself to me. Her soul is already mine. She hates you because you tried to deny her love. We will destroy you."

Moriana's strength wavered at the ice in his voice. There was no doubt in his voice as he spoke those cruel words, and for a moment she almost accepted his word. Even as her strength faltered she remembered another Prince, long ago, who had whispered words of love to her. _I will love you forever… Nothing shall ever part us, my princess._ She remembered that his words, too, had rung with truth. And yet he had lied. Those lies had stolen everything from her, and she would not let _this one's lies steal everything from her daughter._

            "Fool. Think you that you will destroy me with your barbed words. You are a lie, _Prince. Your whole existence is false. You are a dream that story decided to dream up. Handsome, noble, sweet, gentle, strong… But it is all a lie. And for what story adds to you to make those lies appear truth she takes away in heart. You have no soul, _Prince_."_

            "I am false?" Asked Prince Enthralling, incredulity slipping into his voice, showing why he was of royal blood. "You tell yourself you are not a witch and yet you have banished the child you call your daughter. You think that you do it to protect her but in truth it is the evil in you that makes you act so. Your soul is dark and tainted, _witch_. You rob Shian of joy and love and you say that you protect her. You have tried to fill her with your darkness and your hate. Are you jealous of her beauty that you would treat such an innocent so? Do you deny it, Malevolence? In my weakness I believe that part of you thinks that she cares for this child, but you do nothing other than bring her pain. If you truly cared you would not harm her so with your words and your darkness."

His words came to Moriana over a distance. When he had started speaking she saw that while he did not speak the complete truth he did not lie either. She had caused Shian pain. Shian's beauty had caused her pain. She had felt jealous of the life that Shian had ahead of her. A life that had been stolen from her. In a golden flash, she remembered her recent treatment of Shian. Was that love? Ignoring her, pushing her away, taking away her hope in false dreams and yet not replacing them with anything? Was that what one who loved her would do?

The Prince saw the thorny golden vines start to wrap themselves around the Witch Queen. Half truths always worked better than lies. He should know, after all he was Prince Enthralling. He only needed to weaken her a little more and she would fall to him.

            "If you truly cared you would have given her a choice. But you lock her away instead because you already know what she would choose."

            "No…" whispered Moriana, yet it was too late for his words had the desired effect and sent her spinning into despair.

Golden light blinded her from the Prince and his drawn sword. She was weakened but still dangerous. If she could not see, she could not fight. She was pulled from her despair and her darkness by a shining bolt of pain. Confused, she looked downwards towards the source of pain. The Prince still held the hilt of the sword gifted to him by story, its golden blade embedded in the body of the Queen in front of him. The blade started to glow, and spread like acid through the Witch's body. 

            _I failed…_thought the Witch Queen as Story ate away at her trying to get to the part of her soul that she had not given to her Prince. The part that she had kept for herself. As it touched it, Moriana was made aware of its existence. She had thought she had no soul left but she had been wrong. _It is so beautiful… that is why Story desires it…It is not filled with despair and evil, but with hope_ she thought, even as it away at her beauty. She lifted her eyes to the Prince as she felt story finish her off. _I am a Queen. I am a queen and not a victim…_

            The Prince shivered in the cold tower. The story that had given him strength had left him with the disappearance of the witch. Looking around the room, he felt a sudden urge to be gone from this place of darkness and hope and other things too large for him to contemplate. It made him feel small. He did not like it.

_The Prince was beside himself with grief at the loss of his Princess, and in his despair he jumped right down from the tower, and, though he escaped with his life, the thorns among which he fell pierced his eyes out. Then he wandered, blind and miserable, through the wood, eating nothing but roots and berries, and weeping and lamenting the loss of his lovely bride. So he wandered about for some years, as wretched and unhappy as he could well be, and at last he came to the desert place where his Princess was living.___

            Armed with the knowledge Story had stolen from the witch, Enthralling descended to the dungeons to free his princess. 

            "My Lady?" 

Shian looked up from her grief to see Prince Enthralling standing at her open door. It had unlocked itself a while ago but Shian had not ventured out. Her mother was gone. She felt her soul as it was hungrily devoured by a great, cold emptiness. _Story_, her heart told her. 

            "My Prince! Did you see…did you see what happened to my mother?"

            "I am sorry, my Lady, but there was no one here when I arrived."

            "She has gone. My mother died… I don't know how… Oh, Prince Enthralling, what shall I do? My mother…" said Shian on the verge of tears. But she would not cry. She was the daughter of a great woman.

            "I am sorry about your mother, Shian," answered the Prince, hesitating before wrapping his arms around her. Her beautiful black hair had been hacked off by the wicked witch and for a moment she looked very ordinary but the Prince knew that her hair would grow and by the time he was expected back at the palace, she would be the beauty of the land once more. "Will you come away with me? There is nothing left for you here but pain and I offer you love. Come with me, love, and be my Princess."

_Love is darkness,_ whispered her mother's memory. Shian did not believe that. Yet in some ways, it was true for now she found herself tumbling into darkness at the loss of a mother that she loved. 

The Prince took her silence for confirmation and gently led her out of the tower, his arms wrapped possessively around her. 

            "I will take you home, my love. Do not be too sad for soon you shall live in a palace of gold and have everything you desire," said the Prince, leading Shian to where his horse was waiting.

_…and at last he came to the desert place where Rapunzel was living. Of a sudden he heard a voice which seemed strangely familiar to him. He walked eagerly in the direction of the sound, and when he was quite close, Rapunzel recognised him and fell on his neck and wept. But two of her tears touched his eyes, and in a moment they became quite clear again, and he saw as well as he had ever done. Then he led her to his kingdom…_

             _I shall have a golden cage_ whispered her mind. _From stone to gold…_Her mother thought that it was just Men and Princes and Story that she need be wary of for they would trap her heart and tame her wild beauty. But she did not see that in trying to protect the girl, she trapped her in a different sort of cage. A cage of fear and mistrust. A cage of safety, yes, but it was not freedom. Although she had tried to teach Shian to question the world and to question the stories she also pushed her own interpretation of them onto her so that she might learn to be safe. To protect her. In doing so, she had helped Story for all it needed to do was change Shian's cage. Shian looked up into Prince Enthralling's eyes, realising for the first time that he had led her outside. The rising sun burned golden-red in his eyes.

            "My Prince, in my sorrow I have left something of great importance inside. I cannot leave without…"

            "Shian, whatever it is, you have no need of it for you shall have the very best of everything at my palace," replied Prince Enthralling with a hint of impatience.

            "Oh, please, my Prince, it was a ring my mother gave me. I cannot leave without it. Would you get it for me? I left it in the dungeon," begged a wide-eyed Shian, letting sweetness drip from her voice. 

He left. He was a Prince, after all, and how could he refuse this one simple request from such beauty.

            _A beauty that he so much wants to have for his own. Shian saw the cage that the Prince wanted to put her in. He did not love her; he loved her beauty, for how could he love someone he did not even know. She realised that she too did not love him, she had only thought so because her mother had tried to tell her she should not love him. She could not go with him to his palace for that would be a lie. And she could never be happy knowing that. And yet she could not stay here because the tower was filled with her mother and her half-truths. Sorrow and bitterness had made her mother see shadows where there were none and so the truths she had taught her daughter had been tainted. _

            Once upon a time it had been a woman's greatest achievement to win a Prince with her beauty and goodness. They were the heroines in all the stories. Perhaps it was time a new hero arose. One whose heart was not twisted by the manipulations of Story, of What has Always Been. One who could see the world choked on glittering golden tendrils of story and have the heart to go on. Shian rode off, the golden sunrise behind her. 

_…__ Then he led her to his kingdom. __And then__ the Prince and the Princess lived…._

_…and then they lived happily…._

_…and then they…___

_…and then… Damn. Damn! DAMN!_

 If one has the courage to ride a path of her own making, then will not more take heart and follow. 

AN END


End file.
